An overwhelming majority of risk professionals in the financial services industry have already seen benefits from AI technologies, new research has revealed. The survey, from analytics player SAS and the Global Association of Risk (GARP), found that 81% of those queried has already noted AI dividends. The key areas where it found respondents are reaping returns include improved process automation (52%), credit scoring (45%) and data preparation (43%). Around a third of respondents also reported seeing benefits from model validation, calibration and selection. “At this point there’s little doubt that AI is here to stay, and that is no different for risk professionals and financial services firms,” said Mark Carey, Co-President at GARP. “While more than half of survey respondents described at least moderate knowledge of their firms’ current and planned use of AI, the survey suggests institutions are still very much exploring AI, with a lot of questions remaining.” For those risk and financial service professionals who haven’t yet tried this fast-emerging technology, they plan to soon. According to the survey, of those not yet using any form of AI, 84% plan to be using machine learning and natural language processing in the next three years. Additionally, in the next three years, almost all respondents expect AI to improve their jobs at least somewhat. They anticipate AI will lead to higher productivity (96 per cent), faster time to gain insights from data (95 per cent) and more data insights for faster, better decisions (95 %). But there are obstacles to AI adoption. Though respondents believe AI is and will continue to become embedded in their organisations, respondents also cited a skills gap to using AI. More than half of respondents said they were at least somewhat concerned that their firms lack the necessary skills to implement and maintain AI.